Concave Cuff with Floating Amethyst Cones

Antonio Pineda's modernist silver is defined by a willingness to make the metal itself the structure of a piece, and this concave cuff is a clear instance of that approach. From his Taxco workshop in the postwar period, Pineda treated form and stone as a single sculptural problem, and here the result is a band that seems to cradle its stones in open space.

The cuff curves inward along its width, and cushion-cut amethyst cones are arranged so that they appear to float along the interior of the concave form. The silvery-white metal sets off the deep purple of the stones, while the open, three-dimensional composition keeps the surface from reading as flat. The effect depends entirely on the relationship between the hollowed band and the suspended cones.

The bracelet bears Pineda's Antonio crown mark with the 970 silver standard, Hecho en Mexico, and an eagle assay stamp. It is recorded in Gobi Stromberg's Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda (2008), p. 149, plate 194.

Pieces like this surface only occasionally at auction, and the documented reference together with the distinctive floating-cone construction makes it a desirable example of Pineda's concave cuffs.